1At that time, Judah moved away from his brothers and settled near an Adullamite named Hirah. 2There Judah saw the daughter of a Canaanite whose name was Shua, and he married her. After he slept with her, 3she became pregnant and gave birth to a son, whom she#Sam, Tg; MT he named Er. 4She became pregnant again, gave birth to a son, and named him Onan. 5Then she gave birth to one more son and named him Shelah. She was in Chezib when she gave birth to him.

6Judah married his oldest son Er to a woman named Tamar. 7But the LORD considered Judah’s oldest son Er immoral, and the LORD put him to death. 8Judah said to Onan, "Go to your brother’s wife, do your duty as her brother-in-law, and provide children for your brother." 9Onan knew the children wouldn’t be his so when he slept with his brother’s wife, he wasted his semen on the ground, so he wouldn’t give his brother children. 10The LORD considered what he did as wrong and put him to death too. 11Judah said to Tamar his daughter-in-law, "Stay as a widow in your father’s household until my son Shelah grows up." He thought Shelah would die like his brothers had. So Tamar went and lived in her father’s household.

12After a long time, Judah’s wife the daughter of Shua died. Then, after a period of mourning, he and his neighbor Hirah the Adullamite went up to Timnah, to those who were shearing his sheep. 13Tamar was told, "Your father-in-law is now on his way up to Timnah to shear his sheep." 14So Tamar took off the clothing she wore as a widow, covered herself with a veil, put on makeup,#Or perfumed herself or wrapped herself up and sat down at the entrance to Enaim on the road to Timnah, since she realized that although Shelah had already grown up, she hadn’t been given to him as a wife.

15Judah saw her and thought she was a prostitute because she had covered her face. 16He turned to her beside the road and said, "Let me sleep with you," because he didn’t know she was his daughter-in-law.

She said, "What will you give me for sleeping with you?"

17He said, "I will give you a kid goat from my flock."

She said, "Only if you give me some deposit, as security to guarantee that you will send it."

18He said, "What kind of deposit should I give you?"

And she said, "Your seal, its cord, and the staff in your hand." He gave these to her, slept with her, and she became pregnant by him.

19Then she got up, left, and took off her veil, dressing once again in the clothing she wore as a widow. 20Judah sent the kid goat with his neighbor the Adullamite so he could take back the deposits from the woman, but he couldn’t find her. 21He asked the locals of that place, "Where’s the consecrated worker#Traditionally cultic prostitute who was at Enaim on the road?"

But they said, "There’s no consecrated worker here."

22So he went back to Judah and said, "I couldn’t find her. The locals even said, ‘There’s no holy woman here.’"

23Judah said, "Let her keep everything so we aren’t laughed at. I did send this kid goat, but you couldn’t find her."

24About three months later, Judah was told, "Your daughter-in-law Tamar has become a prostitute and is now pregnant because of it."

And Judah said, "Bring her out so that she may be burned."

25When she was brought out, she sent this message to her father-in-law, "I’m pregnant by the man who owns these things. See if you recognize whose seal, cord, and staff these are."

26Judah recognized them and said, "She’s more righteous than I am, because I didn’t allow her to marry my son Shelah." Judah never knew her intimately again.

27When she gave birth, she discovered she had twins in her womb. 28At birth, one boy put out his hand, and the midwife took it and tied a red thread on his hand, saying, "This one came out first." 29As soon as he pulled his hand back, his brother came out, and she said, "You’ve burst out on your own." So he was named Perez.#Or bursting out30Afterward, his brother with the red thread on his hand came out, and he was named Zerah.#Or dawn